Thera 8.3: Panthaka Elder
Tipitaka >> Sutta Pitaka >> Khuddaka Nikaya >> Theragatha >> Thera(231):Panthaka Elder Adapted from the Archaic Translation by Mrs. C.A.F. Rhys Davids. Note: 'C' in Pali text is pronounced as 'ch' as in 'China'. ---- Chapter VIII. Eight Verses =231. Panthaka Elder= When our Lord(Buddha) had gone to Rājagaha, rolling the excellent wheel of righteousness, Panthaka, the elder son1 243 of a rich councillor's daughter and one of her father's servants, used to go with his grandfather to hear the Lord(Buddha), and so won faith with insight. Entering the Monk’s order, he became highly versed in the Buddha-Word, and in the four abstract jhānas, in due time becoming arahant(enlightened). Living in the bliss of jhāna and of fruition, he was reviewing one day his achievement, and in great joy because of that burst into a 'lion's roar' thus: ---- 510 Yadā paṭhamamaddakkhiɱ satthāramakutobhayaɱ,|| Tato me ahu saɱvego passitvā purisuttamaɱ.|| || 511 Siriɱ hatthehi pādehi yo paṇāmeyya āgataɱ,|| Etādisaɱ so satthāraɱ ārādhetvā virādhaye.|| || 512 Tadāhaɱ puttadāraɱ ca dhanadhaññaɱ va chaḍḍayiɱ,|| Kesamassūni chedetvā pabbajiɱ anagāriyaɱ, || || 513 Sikkhāsājīvasampanno indriyesu susaɱvuto.|| Namassamāno sambuddhaɱ vihāsiɱ aparājito.|| || 514 Tato me paṇidhī āsi cetaso abhipatthito,|| Na nisīde muhuttampi taṇhāsalle anūhate.|| || 515 Tassa mevaɱ viharato passa viriyaparakkamaɱ,|| Tisso vijjā anuppattā kataɱ buddhassa sāsanaɱ.|| || 516 Pubbenivāsaɱ jānāmi dibbacakkhuɱ4 visodhitaɱ,|| Arahā dakkhiṇeyyomhi vippamutto nirūpadhi.|| || 517 Tato ratyā vivasane suriyassuggamanaɱ pati,|| Sabbaɱ taṇhaɱ nisonetvā pallaŋkena upāvisin' ti.|| || ---- 510 When first I saw the blessed Lord(Buddha), Him For whom no fear can from any where arise, A wave of deep emotion filled my self At sight of Him, the unmatched man of men. 511 Had a man strong on hands and knees Favour of Fortune's goddess here come, And won the grace of Lord(Buddha) such as this, Still might he fail to win thing he sought.2 512 I for my part hindrance left away - hope of wife and children, coin and corn,3 And let my hair and beard be shorn, and forth Into the homeless life I went from home. 513 The life and training practising, all faculties Well held in hand, in loyalty to Him, Buddha supreme, Lord(Buddha) of self I lived. 514 Then longing rose within my heart, I yearned consummate: 'Now will I no more sit, Not even for a moment, while the dart Of craving sticks and is not outdrawn. 515 Of me thus sure of will, O! see4 And mark the onward stride of energy: 244 The Threefold Wisdom have I made my own, And all the Buddha remains us do is done. 516 I know the where and when of former lives, And clearly shines the divine eye. Ar'hant am I, worthy men's offerings. Released and without basis for rebirth. 517 For as the darkness melted into light, And the day broke with rising of the sun, From craving, becoming dry, had come release, And on my couch crosslegged I sat in peace. ---- 1 The untimely birth of the boys when their mother had set out to return to her family relatives, their being named 'Roadling' the Greater and the Less, and their going to live with her family relatives, is briefly sketched here, but is told more fully in Jāt., i. 14 ff., and Anguttara Commentary on i. 26. 2 'Unlucky ... fail at the ninth moment' (? eleventh hour), says the Commentary, which sees, moreover, in siriɱ an allusion not to the goddess of luck (Buddhist India, p. 217), but to the sirisayana or cathedra of a teacher. 3 Living as a minor with his grandparents, he had as yet none of these, remarks the Commentary. 4 For this and following lines, cf. verses 167, '224, 296, 332, 477. ----